Three Jobs Under One Roof
The Former Sericultural Experiment Station Shinjo Branch (Silkworm Egg Inspection and Incubation Rooms) is a single-storey timber building of 1934 in Tokamachi, Shinjo City, Yamagata Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 March 2013.
It stands west of the main office at the southern end of the grounds. The roof is hipped and tiled, the footprint is 224 square metres, and there are two dormers on the south slope and one on the north. Mortar render with raised window surrounds matches the office building exactly, and together with the egg cold storage building on the far side of the office the three form one south-facing front.
The long Japanese name records three separate tasks. Egg inspection meant checking the egg cards destined for farming households for disease. Saisei, rendered here as incubation, meant holding eggs at a set temperature and light level so that hatching fell on the same day across the batch. Hatsuga sokushin meant bringing moths out of their cocoons on a chosen date. All three concern eggs and moths rather than the feeding of larvae, which is why they sit apart from the rearing houses.
Inside, a partition divides a smaller room on the east from a larger one on the west. Close inspection work and the spreading out of egg cards under controlled warmth need different amounts of floor, and the plan simply reflects that.
Why It Was Registered
The registration number is 06-0140, granted under the first criterion, which covers structures contributing to the historic character of the landscape.
What singles this building out is how much of its interior survives. Wainscot boarding runs round the base of the walls, square inspection hatches open in the ceiling, and the original ventilation grilles remain in walls and ceiling alike. In rooms where silkworm eggs were handled, temperature and air movement decided the quality of the work, so the ventilation fittings are a direct record of what went on here.
Seen from outside it is a plain single-storey box, close kin to the office. Part of the case for registering it is precisely that: with the office and the cold storage building it holds the southern frontage of the Former Sericultural Experiment Station Shinjo Branch together as one composition.
What to Look For
If you get inside, look first at the lower half of the walls. Boarding rises to about waist height, protecting the plaster from benches and equipment, and a thin moulding marks the line where the two finishes meet.
Then look up. The ceiling carries both square hatches for access to the roof space and round grilles for ventilation, and their positions follow the way each room was used. A glance overhead tells you where the air was meant to be drawn off.
From outside, the dormers repay attention. The two on the south slope match those of the office in size and in height on the roof, so when the two buildings are seen side by side the roof lines read as continuous.
Walk the south elevation from end to end and the spacing of the windows changes partway along. That change marks the internal partition between the small east room and the large west one.
Visiting This Building
The interior now serves as a food processing room available for hire. You can go in only as a booked user; there is no access for sightseeing alone.
Hire costs 250 yen an hour, with the room available from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. It closes on Tuesdays and from 29 December to 3 January. Booking in advance is required, on 0233-29-2122. Alongside ordinary kitchen equipment the room holds a commercial convection oven and a vacuum sealer.
The exterior can be seen freely from anywhere on the grounds, and outdoor photography is unrestricted. For the whole building, shoot square to the south elevation or work obliquely from the path between it and the office. Because the two roofs sit at the same height, framing them together shows what the original composition was aiming at.
A covered corridor joins the building on its north side. In winter the path round to that side is not always cleared, so in the snow season it is safer to view from the south.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Yamagata
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Q&A
- Can visitors enter the Silkworm Egg Inspection and Incubation Rooms at the Former Sericultural Experiment Station Shinjo Branch?
- Only as booked users of the food processing room that now occupies the interior. There is no admission for sightseeing alone, though the exterior can be seen freely from the grounds.
- What do the terms in this building's name mean?
- Egg inspection was the checking of silkworm egg cards for disease. Incubation meant holding eggs at controlled temperature and light so a batch hatched on one day. The third task was bringing moths out of their cocoons on a chosen date.
- How much does it cost to hire the room?
- 250 yen per hour, available from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., closed Tuesdays and from 29 December to 3 January. Book in advance on 0233-29-2122.
- How is the Silkworm Egg Inspection and Incubation Rooms building constructed?
- Single-storey timber with a hipped pantile roof and a footprint of 224 square metres. The walls are mortar rendered with raised window surrounds, there are three dormers, and the interior is divided into a small east room and a large west room.
- What survives inside the building?
- Wainscot boarding on the walls, square inspection hatches in the ceiling, and the original ventilation grilles. Together they show how air and warmth were managed in rooms where silkworm eggs were handled.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Sericultural Experiment Station Shinjo Branch (Silkworm Egg Inspection and Incubation Rooms) |
|---|---|
| Location | 6000-1 Toumeki, Tokamachi, Shinjo City, Yamagata Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 29 March 2013 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber, pantile roof, footprint 224 square metres |
| Owner | Shinjo City |
| Public Access | Exterior viewable; interior hired as a food processing room by booking, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Egg Inspection and Incubation Rooms
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009420
- Shinjo City: On the Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.shinjo.yamagata.jp/k001/020/010/030/030/9635.html
- Shinjo City: Facility Guide
- https://www.city.shinjo.yamagata.jp/k001/020/010/030/010/6468.html
- Michi-no-Eki Shinjo Ecology Garden Gensan-no-Mori: Room Hire
- https://michinoeki-eg.jp/rental/
Last verified: 2026.09.14
